SNAPSHOT
Process: Deliberative community panel
MosaicLab’s role: Co-design and facilitation of the panel process
Host organisation: City of Melbourne
Timeframe: October 2023 - November 2023
Deliberative panel participants: 39
Outputs: The panel agreed on 11 final recommendations that will be used to implement and advocate for the Council affordable housing strategy
Stakeholder Engagement Award Winner Planning Institute of Australia 2024 Awards for Planning Excellence Victoria
THE DILEMMA (REMIT)
We have a severe shortage of affordable housing and need innovative solutions from all levels of government and society.
““[The People’s Panel] has shown that if you get a group of ordinary people together, give them enough time, give them proper information, then they are very capable of navigating the most complex of public policy ideas and challenges and coming up with some very sensible solutions.””
OVERVIEW
October 2023 – November 2023
Council sees affordable housing as essential infrastructure that helps Melbourne continue to be a livable, inclusive and prosperous city. In 2019, it was estimated there was a shortfall of 6,000 affordable homes in the Council. By 2036, this shortfall will grow to 23,200 affordable homes.
This is not a new problem, and it’s happening across Australia. Decades of under-investment combined with significant population growth, rising housing costs, and the COVID-19 pandemic means there is a severe shortage of affordable homes for people on very low, low and moderate incomes.
Council is committed to addressing this challenge. A People’s Panel was established comprising 39 individuals who broadly represented the community within the Council. The People's Panel came together for 3.5 days to learn and deliberate together, exploring new and innovative ways to make Melbourne a city that everyone can call home.
FAST FACTS
KEY CHALLENGES
The process needed to:
ensure participants were representative of residents of Council
engage people meaningfully around a dilemma that is complex and impacts people’s lives
ensure people that might be experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness had their voices heard
tackle a difficult issue, allow time for hearing many perspectives and come to agreement over 3.5 days.
“It was such an honour to work with such a diverse group of Melbournians as they diligently worked to understand the complex issue of housing affordability.
Their efforts to collaborate together to come up with recommendations for how the City of Melbourne can address this issue in a way that is fair for all was inspiring. ”
THE PROCESS
Panel recruitment was independently managed by Sortition Foundation via a random, stratified selection process.
Stratified selection against recruitment targets ensured that the final panel selected was descriptively representative of the demographics of the City of Melbourne population (i.e., forming a ‘mini-public’ of citizens).
The 39 panel members met four times (one evening session and three full days) which equated to 21 hours per person of discussion and deliberations. Participants were supported throughout the process by MosaicLab facilitators who helped the group work together collaboratively, hear different perspectives, understand their task, respond to the remit and come to agreement.
Panel members had access to a broad range of information from a wide range of sources relevant to the remit. This included conversations and Q&A opportunities with Council as well as key speakers chosen by the panel. An online portal provided a central place for relevant information inputs as well as a discussion forum.
“Working with the ML team was so easy and fun! It never felt like working with an external group, they were generous with their time, support and authentic concern for the best outcomes for us.”
City of Melbourne
SUCCESS FACTORS
Keys to success for this process included:
a highly organised and committed host organisation who was willing to partner with their community to tackle a ‘wicked problem’
a carefully designed and thoughtfully facilitated process that was supportive and inclusive, resulting in a high panellist retention rate
the opportunity for the panel to visit a new affordable housing development near Queen Victoria Markets, to myth-bust stereotypes
building a robust engagement process around a topic that affects people directly and is one of the biggest problems communities currently face (i.e., not a low-level issue).
OUTCOMES
The panel agreed on 11 final recommendations that are being used to implement and advocate for the Council's affordable housing strategy.
The group wrote their own report, which included a description and rationale for each of the 11 recommendations. All panel members had the opportunity to write and/or review and refine each recommendation.
The final report containing the recommendations was presented to Lord Mayor, Sally Capp and Councillors Dr Olivia Ball and Jamal Hakim at the end of Day 3.
The City of Melbourne has committed to use the recommendations to the maximum extent possible (IAP2 Level of Influence = Collaborate) and will clearly articulate where the panel’s decisions have influenced the development of their affordable housing strategy.
“Affordable housing is hugely topical and the City of Melbourne was courageous in starting the conversation with its residents about how to address the issue in their municipality. Over the 3 day deliberation, I watched panel members lean into the issue, putting their own views aside. With curiosity, they had deep conversations with people they wouldn’t normally interact with and worked together
to craft 11 recommendations.
I can still see their faces and the wide smiles at the end of the process - one that I know has had a deep impact on many of them. And it’s always a great sign of cohesion when new friendships are made and the group goes out to enjoy a beer at the end of the process!”
LEARN MORE
Learn more about the Affordable Housing People’s Panel here.
Read more of our case studies
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